


Tintin and the Secret of Mermaid Island

by Caro_Dee



Category: Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Genre: Desert Island, Gen, Mermaids, Post-Canon, Treasure Hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25918306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caro_Dee/pseuds/Caro_Dee
Summary: Tintin and Captain Haddock are after the rest of Red Rackham's treasure. It doesn’t quite go as they expected.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12
Collections: Limited Theatrical Release 2020





	Tintin and the Secret of Mermaid Island

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Cruria. I hope you enjoy this little fic. I had a blast writing it!
> 
> I borrowed the idea of the island with the statue and parrots from “The Treasure of Red Rackham”.

“Thundering typhoons, I can’t believe he stole my ship!” Captain Haddock cried out to the heavens. “For the _second_ time! Nobody steals my ship!”

“I can’t believe Sakharine managed to escape Interpol!” Tintin shouted back, clinging to the side of the lifeboat with one hand while the other kept hold of Snowy. “At least we got away!”

“In the middle of a storm! We’ll be lucky to survive!”

“Of course, we’ll survive!” Tintin yelled. “You’re the great Captain Haddock! A little storm like this can’t stop you.”

The Captain threw him a dubious look but squared his jaw in determination. “Right! You…” He took another look at the lightweight boy and dog being tossed about the boat as huge waves plunged the lifeboat up and down. “… I’ll bail out the boat.” He grabbed a bucket from under his seat and started throwing seawater out of the boat as fast as he could.

It was several dark and desperate hours as the two struggled to survive but slowly the storm lessened and by the time the sun rose, it was over. 

“I knew we’d make it,” Tintin smiled at the Captain and Snowy gave a supportive yip.

“I can’t believe we’re still alive,” muttered the Captain but he grinned back at Tintin. He looked around. There was nothing but water in every direction. No sign at all of his ship.

“I wonder how far off course we are?” asked Tintin.

“There’s no telling. The storm was coming in from the nor’east. It might have pushed us closer to the island or it might have pushed us past it,” the Captain said grimly.

Tintin looked concerned for a moment, then he nodded with determined optimism. “Well, at least Sakharine doesn’t have the coordinates.”

“We were very close though. All he has to do is sail in circles and eventually he’ll find it.”

“Or he’ll find us,” Tintin added.

They both fell silent, staring at the horizon, lost in thought.

Suddenly, Snowy lifted his head. He scrambled over to the side of the boat and peered over into the water. A startled face looked up at him, then sank back into the ocean. Snowy barked furiously.

“What is it, Snowy?” Tintin asked as he peered over the boat. “What did you see?”

“He probably saw some fish,” said the Captain

“Hmm… maybe,” said Tintin, giving the water a suspicious look. Then he ruffled Snowy’s fur and added, “Good boy, Snowy. You keep watch.”

Snowy barked and nodded. Then he sat down looking as watchful and fierce as a small white dog could look. Once in a while he barked but neither the Captain or Tintin could see anything.

Suddenly, Snowy began barking and growling. The Captain ignored him but Tintin looked over and saw a half-dozen fins in the water headed in their direction. “Sharks!”

“Sharks?” The Captain startled and turned to see. “Oh aye. We’re safe as long as we’re in the boat.”

“But she’s not!” Tintin cried, as he saw a young woman swimming frantically ahead of the sharks. “Captain, we have to save her.” He grabbed the oars and started trying to turn the boat around. “Miss! Hang on. We’re coming.”

With the Captain throwing his muscle into the rowing they moved towards the fleeing girl. Would they reach her before the sharks did?

When they came abreast, Tintin reached down. “Miss, grab my hand. I’ll pull you into the boat.”

The girl hesitated before looking back at the sharks which were almost upon her. Then she grabbed Tintin’s hand and he pulled her up… and up… and up. Instead of the short girl with legs he was expecting, there was six feet of long, silvery tail slithering over the edge into the boat. Tintin’s mouth dropped, Snowy gave a startled yelp and the Captain shouted, “Great blistering barnacles, she’s a mermaid!”

Then several thumps shook them as sharks slammed into the boat. “Never mind that,” shouted Tintin. “We’ve got to fight off the sharks.” He grabbed an oar and shoved one of the sharks away from the boat, then another, and another. On the other side of the boat, the Captain was doing the same. Snowy growled and barked furiously to warn the sharks away.

Finally, the sharks stopped hitting the boat but continued to circle frantically, furious at being denied their prey. The mermaid leaned over and whistled jeeringly at them. The frenzy increased for a moment, then slowly the sharks began to drift off. Snowy barked after them and looked very pleased with himself.

The mermaid turned and regarded them warily. Tintin’s eyes widened and he clapped a hand over them. Snowy dropped his head and did the same. Tintin peered sideways at Captain Haddock to find him staring with a dopey grin. “Captain!” Tintin said sternly. “Avert your eyes.”

“Blistering barnacles! She’s naked!” the Captain pointed out. “You can’t expect a red-blooded seaman to not look at a naked mermaid. It isn’t natural. Oh, all right,” he grumbled and turned his head away.

“Never mind whether she’s naked, did you see the necklace she’s wearing?”

Captain Haddock looked at Tintin in disbelief. “Of course, I didn’t see any necklace. I wasn’t looking that far up. What about it?”

“It was gold and emeralds. I think in the Spanish style,” Tintin explained. “How would a mermaid get hold of a necklace like that?’

Realization dawned over Captain Haddock’s face. “Thundering typhoons! Sunken treasure!” He turned his head back to stare at the mermaid, only this time he was looking at the necklace. Mostly.

The mermaid was staring back at the Captain with great interest. She leaned forward and tilted her head to examine him from both sides. Tintin blushed harder and stared at his feet.

“Blistering barnacles,” she said, in a high, fluting voice. Both the Captain and Tintin blinked and stared at each other in confusion.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Tintin and this is Captain Haddock.”

“Pleased to meet you, lass.” The Captain swept off his cap and bowed to her as well as he could in a seated position.

“Francis Haddock?” the mermaid gasped, which did interesting things to her chest that Tintin absolutely did not notice.

“You know of Sir Francis Haddock? He was my ancestor. My great-great-great-great grandfather.”

“His ship sank near here and we’re looking for his treasure,” Tintin explained. “What do you know about it?”

“What is treasure?” the mermaid asked.

“The necklace that you’re wearing. It looks like it might be part of Haddock’s treasure.”

The mermaid touched her necklace with a frown. “Gold? Gold is treasure?”

“Yes,” said Tintin. “Where did you get it?”

“I must think about this,” the mermaid said and slipped over the side before they could stop her.

“Wait! Wait, miss.” But the mermaid had disappeared and though they searched the surface of the water, she didn’t reappear.

* * *

“Oh God, we’re going to die,” the Captain moaned. “Water everywhere and not a drop of alcohol to drink.”

The sun beat down mercilessly on the little boat. Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock lay listlessly in the boat, panting with thirst.

“Don’t give up, Captain,” Tintin rasped encouragingly. “There’s still hope.”

“A Haddock never gives up!” Haddock shouted, then broke into a coughing fit. “Ah, it’s no use. We’re doomed. Doomed to die of thirst. At least, I’ll die like a true Haddock at sea.” 

Snowy lifted his head wearily and gave a short bark. Suddenly, three bottles were tossed aboard. Tintin rushed to the side and looked in vain for who had done it. He suspected their mermaid.

The Captain’s attention was fixed on the bottles. His eyes widened and he grinned. “Come to papa,” he crooned and uncorked the bottle, taking a long drink. Then he spat it out in disgust. “This isn’t wine. It’s just water!” he cried in disappointment and began to toss the bottle overboard.

“Stop!’ shouted Tintin. He rescued the bottle from the Captain and took a sip. “Sweet water! We’re saved.” He handed it back to the Captain, who sulked as he drank it.

Tintin opened a second bottle and drank some of it, then poured some water into a cupped hand for Snowy. He kept pouring more water out for Snowy to lap at until the dog sat up and wagged his tail. Then Tintin finished the bottle.

“We’ll save the third one in case she doesn’t come back,” he said, setting the bottle aside in the shade.

“Do you think she will?”

“She seemed very interested in you, Captain. I think maybe she will.”

* * *

It was dusk when the mermaid returned with others of her kind. She whistled earnestly to a stern, older woman with silver streaks in her dark hair, who was wearing a tiara that looked similar to the necklace, in what was clearly their language. It sounded quite a bit like dolphin, which made sense to Tintin.

The younger mermaid introduced her. “This is our Queen. I told her about you and she wanted to meet you.”

The Queen looked Captain Haddock over. “You are the son of the son of the son of Haddock?” she asked, in the same high, fluting tones as the younger mermaid.

The Captain stood up in the swaying lifeboat and gave her a full sweeping bow. “Captain Archibald Haddock at your service, your majesty. Sir Francis Haddock was my great-great-great-great grandfather.”

The Queen nodded. “He has the look of the Haddock.” 

The younger mermaid grinned and whistled something. The Queen whistled back sternly and the younger subsided.

“And will Haddock bring trouble to my people?” she asked.

“Your majesty, there is someone else coming. Someone who wants the treasure – the gold – and will not hesitate to hurt anyone to get it,” Tintin told her. “He was trying to force us to lead him to the treasure and we barely managed to escape, when this young lady,” he smiled at the younger mermaid, “found us and saved us.”

She grinned. "Only after you saved me!"

“This someone wants the gold,” the Queen said, cynically. “You want the gold. Why should either of you have it?”

“Well, I am the last of the Haddocks,” the Captain pointed out. “It’s my inheritance.”

Tintin coughed. The Queen’s attention turned back towards him. “What the Captain means is that we’ve been looking for it for a while but we’d be willing to share? The other fellow will want to take it all.”

The Queen examined them expressionlessly for another minute and then nodded. “Bring them.” Then she sank below the water and disappeared.

The other mermaids and mermen surrounded the boat and grabbed the sides. The mermaid they already knew flipped herself on board and then the boat began to move, propelled by the powerful flippers of the merfolk.

“We are taking you to land,” the mermaid told them. “Tell me about the other one looking for the gold.”

“Land! They must be taking us to the island,” Tintin said, excited. “We’ll beat Sakharine there.”

“Sakharine is his name? Tell me about him.”

The trip took over an hour and, in that time, the Captain had boasted about all their adventures against Sakharine with Tintin correcting facts and adding explanations as necessary. The mermaid, whose name turned out to be Delphi, was a charming and attentive listener, gasping with dismay at each setback and laughing with delight at their clever victories.

They were all very pleased with each other by the time the boat was dragged up on the beach of a very pretty little desert island.

“You go that way.” Delphi pointed at the jungle. “There is water you can drink.” Then she slipped out of the boat and swam out to join the others. She waved one last time then they all disappeared.

“Wait!” shouted Tintin. But it was too late. He shrugged. “Well, I guess we go that way.”

Snowy ran up the beach and up into the jungle. “Snowy, be careful!” warned Tintin.

They followed Snowy, and entered the jungle, enjoying the relative coolness of the shade. As they walked along, they startled a bunch of colorful parrots, who burst into flight and squawked cries of “Blistering Barnacles!” “Thundering Typhoons!” “Nobody takes my ship!” “Never give up!”

The Captain and Tintin’s jaws dropped. Then they burst into laughter.

“Sir Francis was definitely here!”

“It’s amazing!” Tintin grinned. “Generations and generations of parrots still remember.”

“We Haddocks are memorable,” crowed the Captain.

“That you are,” Tintin said affectionately.

Snowy ran around in circles barking up at the parrots. When one parrot dive-bombed him, he jumped up to try to catch it. The outraged parrot squawked, “Keelhaul the scurvy rat!” and flew away.

They entered a clearing around a small pond fed by a tiny waterfall from a small cliff. The water was cool and refreshing and they drank their fill. The Captain wandered off, then suddenly yelled, “Tintin, over here! Look at this.”

Tintin rushed over to see the Captain holding aside some bushes to reveal a statue. A very familiar statue of a 17th-century sea captain. Tintin looked between the statue’s face and Captain Haddock. They were practically identical.

“The look of the Haddock,” he said, in awe. “That explains why the mermaids recognized you.”

The Captain looked like he was about to burst into tears. He saluted the statue. “Sir Francis, we’ve finally found you.”

Tintin tactfully moved away to let the Captain have his privacy. His stomach grumbled and he eyed the coconut trees. Breakfast coming up.

It took him a few minutes to figure out how to shinny up the tree without injury and soon he was up and knocking down some coconuts. He had an excellent view of the island from there. He could see the beach and their lifeboat below him. He looked at the ocean and gasped! Then he was practically falling out of the tree in haste.

“Captain!” he shouted running back to the statue. Captain Haddock looked up and wiped his eyes. “The ship! Sakharine is here!”

“Thundering Typhoons! Let me at him. I’ll teach him to steal my ship!”

They all raced back to the beach, ignoring the startled squawks of the parrots as they burst through the jungle below them. They hit the beach and stopped. The ship was anchored and two tenders full of men were heading ashore right towards where their lifeboat was parked on the sand.

“That’s a lot of men,” the Captain said dubiously. “We’ve no weapons.”

“We’ll have to lead them in circles on the island and try to take them one by one,” Tintin said grimly. Snowy growled at his feet.

They could see Sakharine now, standing proudly on one of the boats and pointing towards them triumphantly.

“Arrogant, over-dramatic sod,” the Captain muttered.

It happened so quickly that they barely had time to gasp in surprise.

Mermen and -maids rose silently out of the water, a dozen to each tender. They swarmed one side of each boat and used their weight to tip the boat over, sending the seamen into the water with them. The men were shoved together, the merfolk backed off, and a net was cast over them and they were dragged ashore.

The Captain and Tintin whooped in triumph and ran down to the water’s edge where the bunch of trapped men lay in a sodden, gasping, coughing heap. The merfolk surrounded them on the wet sand, pointing antique but sharp cutlasses at them.

“Well done!” Captain Haddock congratulated the merfolk, bending down to grin at the infuriated Sakharine. “Looks like you’ve lost again.”

“Interpol will be glad to get you back,” Tintin said.

“They cannot leave,” said a voice behind them. They turned to find the Queen had crawled out of the water. “They have seen us and more will come.”

“Your majesty.” Tintin squatted down courteously to bring himself to her level. “No one believes mermaids exist. If these men claim they were captured by mermaids no one will believe them. They will look crazy and still be locked away.” He looked up at the Captain. “We’ll say we captured them and never saw any mermaids. The authorities will believe us, not them.”

The Queen searched his face, then slowly nodded. “Take them then.”

The Captain nodded. “We’ll have to go back to the ship and free my men. Then we’ll come back and take them.”

“If you could guard them until we get back,” Tintin asked. “Then disappear before our men see you.”

“Eh, your majesty,” Captain Haddock added. “I hate to bother you, but there’s still the matter of the treasure.”

The merfolk looked to the queen, and cutlasses were starting to rise. Delphi whistled at the Queen, who whistled back dismissively. Delphi whistled again insistently.

With a sour face, the Queen said, “Come back after. _Alone._ ”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tintin said, hustling the Captain off before he could say anything else. “Thank you, ma’am. Come along, Snowy.”

* * *

Sakharine had only left two men on board to guard the crew. It took less than five minutes to subdue them and release the crew from the hold.

After some rousing cheers, the Captain directed the men to ferry Sakharine and the others from the island back to the ship, where it was their turn to languish locked up in the hold.

Then it was only a matter of returning to the island. Alone.

* * *

“Are you a wee bit nervous about this too?” asked Captain Haddock, nodding at Delphi who was frolicking in the shallows as they approached the beach.

“Of course not,” said Tintin, stoutly. “Everyone’s been perfectly kind.”

“You don’t think ‘Come alone’ sounded a bit ominous?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Hello, Delphi!”

Delphi swam up and beamed at them. “Hello! Follow me and I’ll take you where we’re going.”

“Where _are_ we going?” Tintin asked.

Her smile turned mischievous. “It’s a secret!” Then she swam off along the shore, turning to wave encouragingly to follow her.

The Captain and Tintin shrugged at each other and began following behind in the boat. She led them around a curve in the land to where the beach disappeared and waves crashed against rock.

Several mermen surfaced to meet Delphi. “We go there,” Delphi said, pointing at the cliff.

The Captain and Tintin stared dubiously. There was a very small cave with perhaps two feet of headroom above the waves.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Tintin asked with a worried frown. “You know we can’t breathe water like you.”

“You wanted to see treasure,” Delphi said. “The Queen is waiting for you there.”

“We’ve come this far,” Tintin said to Captain Haddock, who nodded. “We’ll see it through to the end.”

They both jumped into the water and were each grabbed by a merman who tugged them along as they swam towards the cave. At the entrance, both the Captain and Tintin took a deep breath and then they were swimming through the dark cave. The mermen swam very fast compared to humans and it was only a minute before they were brought to the surface, gasping for fresh air.

Tintin looked around in wonder. They were in a cave and there was a crack in the ceiling that let in a beam of sunlight to illuminate the waves and the craggy shelves of rock that lined the cave. And on the rocky shelves were…

Piles and piles of gold: coins and jewelry and candlesticks and jeweled weapons. All gleaming softly in the faint, reflected sunlight. The looted treasure of Red Rackham. Painstakingly gathered off the sea floor and collected here.

“It’s beautiful,” murmured Tintin.

“Aye,” agreed the Captain, his eyes widening happily at the sight of wine bottles among the gold. He swam closer and reach out to grab one. The Queen cleared her throat and the Captain froze. 

Tintin suddenly realized there were dozens of merfolk in the water with them. He hadn’t noticed while he was busy staring at the treasure. “Your majesty.”

“You wished to see the treasure,” the Queen said. “This is the treasure of the Haddock tribe. It is ours.” She bared her teeth and Tintin noticed uneasily that they were very sharp.

“The ‘Haddock’ tribe?” the Captain asked, stunned.

“Yes!” Delphi said happily. “Sir Francis was here on this island for many years and he met my many times grandmother, Ondine. There were many little hatchlings. See?” She pulled at a strand of her dark hair. “Other mer have hair the color of their tails, but the Haddocks always have black hair.”

“Do you mean to tell me,” the Captain said, with tears in his eyes, “that Sir Francis was _your_ great-great-great-great grandfather too?”

“Yes!” Delphi squealed.

“Cousin!” Captain Haddock shouted, and threw his arms around the startled mermaid. He kissed her on the forehead, then let her go and turned towards the Queen, throwing out his arms again and shouting, “Cousin!”

The Queen gave a startled whistle and swam backwards out of the Captain’s reach. Several merfolk swam between them, protectively.

But the Captain had already turned towards Tintin, face shining with joy.

“Do you realize what this means, Tintin? I’m not the last of the Haddocks!” the Captain cried. “I may be the last of the land-born Haddocks but the Haddocks were always sea-goers and I think Sir Francis would be overjoyed to realize his descendants travel the sea in ways he never dreamed of. This is wonderful! This calls for a drink!”

He grabbed one of the bottles from the treasure, popped the cork and took a big swig. Then he spat it out in disgust. “It’s all gone to vinegar!” he wailed.

The merfolk were whistling amongst themselves and Tintin thought the looks they were giving them were friendlier than before.

But the Queen was made of sterner stuff. “Sir Francis abandoned Ondine,” she snarled. “He promised to return and he never did.”

The Captain stammered for a moment, then said, “That’s because he died shortly after returning. It was a tragic death. He was run over by…” Haddock’s eyes glazed for a moment. “…a herd of sheep!”

“Sheep?” asked Delphi.

“Yes, like the sharks that chased you. Very dangerous.” The merfolk all hissed and looked sad. The Queen vacillated between annoyed and mollified. She whistled at Delphi.

Delphi interpreted. “Grandmother says that, because you are a Haddock too, you can have some of the gold.”

“Only what you can carry away with you right now,” said the Queen, with a mean smile, then added, “Gold is very heavy.” She looked at Tintin. “You are not a Haddock?”

“No,” Tintin had to admit.

“No gold,” she decreed, smiling. Then she looked expectantly at the Captain. “Choose what you will take with you and leave, never to return to our island.”

She cackled when the Captain and Tintin exchanged crestfallen looks. Two handfuls of coins were not a lot of reward for all the trouble they’d gone through. Then Tintin’s face lit up as he had an idea. “Quickly, Captain, remove your trousers!”

With a confused look, the Captain managed to clumsily pull his trousers off in the water and then handed them to Tintin. Tintin carefully knotted the hem of each leg and gave them a tug to tighten them. Then he held the waist of the trousers up.

“Put the treasure in here!”

The Captain gave Tintin an admiring glance. “You’re a clever one, lad.” Then he began shoving gold pieces and jewelry into the pants. The weight began to pull Tintin down, but Delphi’s arms went around him and she held him up.

The Queen whistled angrily but Delphi laughed. “They outwitted you, grandmother. Let them have it.”

The trousers were only half full when Delphi couldn’t keep Tintin afloat, no matter how hard she worked her tail, and Tintin reluctantly call a halt. He tightened the Captain’s belt to provide a handle and passed it over. The Captain sank below the water for a second then bobbed up when two mermen swam to his side and grabbed him.

“Thank you, your majesty,” said Tintin politely. “It was wonderful to meet you.”

“Farewell, cousin!” bellowed Haddock. “Cousins! May you all have a long and happy life.”

Then, at an annoyed signal from the Queen, Captain Haddock and Tintin were pulled through the watery passage out to the ocean where their boat waited.

Delphi oversaw them being settled in the boat along with the treasure-filled pants. Then she gestured for Haddock to lean down. She kissed him on the cheek and whispered, “Farewell, cousin. Someday I will be the Queen and I say you are a member of the Haddock tribe and welcome to visit our island again. Maybe we will meet again.”

Then she flipped backwards, waved her beautiful silver tail fins at them and then she and the others disappeared.

The Captain touched his cheek with a soft look. “What a wonderful lass.”

“Well, Captain,” said Tintin in satisfaction. “This has been quite an adventure.”

“Did you ever think we’d meet actual mermaids?”

“Not in a million years, Captain,” said Tintin. “Not in a million years.” 

Then they began to head back to the ship where Tintin could see Snowy barking happily at the railing to welcome them back.


End file.
